>>shepard: thank you, jonathan. we will bring in the manage director of the washington institute, the group that reports their mission is to advance a balanced understanding of america's interests in the middle east. michael is a former senior director at the national security council. michael, good to see you. so, everyone thinks it needs to end and like a broken record no one knows what to do about it. now the new wrinkle seems to be no one knows who is who in the opposition? >>guest: it is hardly a new wrinkle this is a story we have been talking about for many months, that the opposition is divided and this is an obstacle to our ability to support them. there is some truth to this. of course, we would prefer that the opposition be united around a common agenda, a common leadership, because we are not just looking to topple assad but we are looking to ensure that what follows him is sort of a stable and not anti-american government to avoid what we have seen in egypt and libya and elsewhere. >>shepard: is there a